


The Dawn Chronicles

by Tenshinrtaiga



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-07
Updated: 2012-06-07
Packaged: 2017-11-07 04:31:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/426938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenshinrtaiga/pseuds/Tenshinrtaiga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Buffy dies and Dawn inherits her sister’s Slayer powers, Dawn doesn’t know what to do. She only knows one thing: she can’t stay at the International Watchers Council anymore. An unlikely friend in the shape of Angel's son Connor comes to the rescue, training her and teaching her how to handle her powers and just when she thinks she has everything under control, a new Slayer is murdered. Now Dawn’s left trying to figure out what happened and how exactly the Winchester boys fit in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

May 17, 2004

Tears dripped down Dawn’s face as she buried her sister… again. She would have thought that given the sheer amount of times Buffy had died that she would be used to it, but she wasn’t. This time was different from all of the other times, however. For one, Buffy wasn’t coming back.

After Buffy’s last death and her subsequent stint in heaven, the Scoobies mutually decided against any sort of attempts to bring the Slayer back. They missed their friend but with all of the Slayers called, they no longer needed her and they knew that Buffy was at peace.

The funeral took place in Rome where Buffy and Dawn had been living for the past year. All the Slayers in Europe were in attendance as well as the Scoobies; Xander from Africa, Willow from South America and Giles from England. It was not the reunion they wanted, but it was the one they got. None of them had been all together like this since Sunnydale, Slayers and real life having gotten in the way.

Willow hung onto Kennedy as her very legs threatened to give out. Xander stood quietly, but it was easy to see that he was contemplating all of the people he loved who had died. Giles couldn’t stop wiping his glasses, his eyes sad, but with an angry scowl on his lips. Faith hung back, unsure of what to say. She had spent years hating Buffy and then a few more trying to make it up to the blonde. She didn’t know how she felt about things now. And even Andrew, the constant blabber-mouth, was silent.

Dawn hadn’t said a word since it happened.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t believe that her sister was gone. She could. She knew that slaying was dangerous even with hundreds of Slayers. She wasn’t the same fourteen year old girl who couldn’t understand that her sister was dead even after seeing Buffy’s broken body splayed out on concrete.

What got to Dawn was how Buffy died.

It wasn’t in a blaze of glory fighting some demon horde. It wasn’t in a fight where Buffy could hit back. It wasn’t even in some sort of accident where Dawn could blame fate. The truth of the matter was that Buffy was murdered; cut down before she even knew what was happening. And it wasn’t a vampire and it wasn’t a demon. It was a Slayer; one of Buffy’s own.

Dawn knew that Dana was unstable. It had taken Spike and Angel both to subdue the psychotic Slayer in Los Angeles. But Buffy was certain that Dana simply needed to be with her sister Slayers in a safe environment as she worked through her trauma. But Dana had killed a lot of people and she had no problem killing more, including Buffy as it turned out.

“Dawn?” Willow asked hesitantly behind the brunette, “Are you ready?”

Dawn looked over her shoulder into the bloodshot eyes of the redhead before allowing her gaze to travel over to the others, all seemingly waiting on the young girl. Dawn looked back down at the fresh grave and dropped the rose she had hung onto. “Yeah,” she said softly, her voice hoarse from lack of use. “Let’s go.”

The group moved together like a unit, but no one took the lead. They were all used to following Buffy and didn’t know how not to move like she was still in front of them. They made their way back to the apartment that Buffy shared with Dawn and Andrew.

It took a moment for Dawn to fish the keys out of her purse. She gripped the doorknob to insert the key, but blinked in surprise when it broke off in her hand. She and the others looked at it queerly but she put the oddness aside and opened the now broken door.

The others all took seats around the cozy living room of the apartment as Dawn headed toward the kitchen muttering something about a cup of coffee. She started the pot and as it began to brew, reached up for a cup. She cursed when it shattered in her hands. “What is going on?” Dawn asked angrily as she dumped the broken pieces into the trash. This wasn’t the first time she’d broken things on accident. In fact, it had been happening a lot recently.

Scowling, Dawn moved into the living room, ignoring the coffee she had been intent on having not a minute earlier. After a few seconds of tense silence, Dawn grabbed the remote off the coffee table, unable to stand the quiet. She pressed the on button with force only to have the remote crack in two at her touch.

“Did you just…?” Xander tailed off questioningly.

Dawn’s scowl deepened. “Yeah. I’ve been breaking stuff all week. I guess I’m too angry to notice my own strength.”

Giles’ eyes were glued to the remote. “May I?” he asked as he reached over and examined the pieces. “This is solid plastic,” he commented thoughtfully, a worried note in his tone. “Faith? Hold out your hand,” Giles instructed. “Dawn, hit it.”

“What?” the two brunettes asked in unison.

The Brit rubbed the bridge of his nose delicately as he closed his eyes for a moment in weariness. “Humor me for a moment, will you?”

Reluctantly, the two did as asked. Faith’s eyes widened in surprise as she caught on to what the Watcher was already thinking. “Ow,” she muttered in a delayed reaction to the hit.

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure that hurt.”

“It did,” Faith breathed in shock before turning to Giles. “G, how is this possible?”

“I’m uncertain,” he admitted, his eyes impossibly tired. He had just buried his Slayer and now to find out this?

“What’s going on?” Kennedy asked, sick of being left in the dark.

Faith and Giles exchanged meaningful looks before Giles turned to face the others, keeping his eyes on Dawn as he spoke, “Dawn appears to be a Slayer.”

There was a silent pause before Dawn gave a dull bark of a laugh. “You’re kidding, right?” she asked. Seeing Giles’ and Faith’s solemn expressions, her own face turned angry. “What are you talking about?” she snarled.

“That punch… it hurt,” Faith explained. “You’ve been breaking things, right? You said it’s been happening all week?”

“Yeah, since…” Dawn trailed off as tears threatened to slip once more.

“Buffy died,” Giles filled in the blanks aloud.

Xander butt in, “How is that possible? She wasn’t a Potential and she didn’t get Called when Willow did the spell.”

“It is my belief that Dawn did not inherit Slayer powers so much as she inherited Buffy’s power,” Giles replied thoughtfully. “She didn’t get the power until Buffy’s death after all. Maybe it’s because Dawn was essentially made from Buffy. So, now that Buffy is gone, the power has gone to her.”

“But what about last time with Glory?” Willow asked in confusion. “Why didn’t Dawn become the Slayer then?”

Faith answered this time. “D was probably too young. She was only, what? Thirteen, fourteen? Slayers are usually called between fifteen and nineteen. Before anyway,” she added in knowing that because of Willow’s spell they now had Slayers of all ages.

“It might explain why a third Slayer was never Called,” Giles mused aloud. “I had always wondered about that,” he admitted freely. “After Buffy drowned, Kendra was called and yet after Glory, no other Slayer appeared. Perhaps it was because the Power was somehow waiting for Dawn to reach the right age. Only, instead, Buffy returned to life so the Power returned to her.”

The Scoobies continued to argue and theorize the semantics, but Dawn couldn’t process what was being said around her. Buffy was dead. Buffy’s power was now Dawn’s. Dawn was the Slayer.

As she stood up, she dimly recognized that the others had quieted, now anxiously looking at her for her reaction. Her face was made of stone as she blatantly ignored all of them in favor of returning to her room.

She locked the door behind her and collapsed onto her bed, ignoring the fact that she was still wearing her black dress from the funeral. Dawn buried her face into her pillow as silent tears made their way down her face. It seemed like that was all Dawn did now-a-days. She either cried or she felt completely numb.

For several days, despite how much the Scoobies tried, Dawn refused to say a word. She hadn’t spoken once since the day Buffy died, the only exception being on the day of the funeral. It had seemed like she was getting better, but then the Slayer revelation hit and Dawn was once more holed up in her room, not speaking and only barely eating.

Faith had returned to Cleveland after several days in Rome. Despite there being many Slayers now, the new Hellmouth required Faith on site. Xander stayed for a little longer, but because of how dangerous and temperamental Africa could be, he had to return to his Slayers. Giles stayed behind to help take care of Dawn, as did Willow, however Kennedy returned to South America to continue hunting for new sister Slayers.

It was only after accidentally overhearing a conversation between Willow and Giles in the middle of the night that Dawn finally spoke.

“I don’t see what else we can do,” Giles admitted softly, a drink in his hand. After burying Buffy, he was now often seen with a drink.

Willow looked troubled, but nodded. “It just doesn’t seem… right,” she replied, equally soft. “If Dawn has to learn, it feels like Buffy should be the one to…” She trailed off forlornly.

“I know,” he sighed, “but the fact of the matter is: Buffy is gone. And Dawn must learn. Dawn will attend the Slayer school.”

Dawn let out a small shocked gasp from behind them, causing the duo to turn around in surprise. Dawn’s eyes were wide in surprise. She honestly hadn’t thought about having to learn how to slay. She had been too caught up in the fact that she had inherited her dead sister’s powers to think about what actually having said powers would mean.

“I can’t,” she spoke hoarsely, her throat dry from disuse.

Giles sighed wearily. “I know that this isn’t something you want to think about, but-”

Dawn shook her head furiously, large curls flying. “I can’t,” she emphasized. “Not the Slayer school. Not Buffy’s school.” Both Giles and Willow looked down. They had already thought of that, but there didn’t seem to be another option. But something else suddenly occurred to Dawn. “Oh, god,” she muttered. “Is Dana… is Dana still there?” she asked looking nauseous at the thought.

Giles hesitated before answering. “Yes,” he finally spoke. “She is in a separate area from the rest of the students and has been completely restricted, but yes. She is still at the Slayer school,” he admitted, looking more than slightly nauseous as well. This was the girl that killed his Slayer. If he could, he would kill her himself. But he couldn’t. Slayers don’t kill humans. What kind of message would it send if he had Dana killed? The old Council had been about fear. The new one was not.

Willow looked shocked, not having thought about the fact that Dana could still be at the school where Buffy had died. “Dawn can’t go there,” she decided, retracting her earlier statement. “We’ll think of something else. Another way Dawn can learn. She won’t go back there.”

“If I could, I would teach her myself,” Giles admitted easily. It would have been an honor to teach Buffy’s sister – her legacy – the way he had taught Buffy, but the fact of the matter was that he was no longer a simple Watcher. He was now head of the International Watchers Council and as such did not have time to teach a Slayer, even when that Slayer was Dawn.

In the end, it was Dawn who came up with a solution. “Faith,” she offered after a moment’s thought. “I can learn under Faith. She can teach me.”

The other two hesitated, but both visibly seemed to like that idea better than their earlier one. “Are you sure?” Giles asked, but his eyes said he had already finished going through the idea and approved of it.

Dawn nodded. “I know she and Buffy didn’t always get along-” she paused as Willow gave a snort of derision at the understatement, “but they respected each other. Faith’ll take care of me,” she smiled slightly. “And I’ll be far away from the Slayer school and Rome and Sunnydale. So no bad memories.”

In the end, all three agreed. Even Andrew liked the idea when he found out about it the next morning. Giles put in a call to Faith and the Slayer easily agreed to help take in Buffy’s little sister.

Meanwhile, Dawn was in her room, staring down at a letter in her hands. She had been planning on telling Buffy and the others before, but Buffy’s death put a stop to her plans. And now, it looked like it wouldn’t matter because she was bound for America anyway.

Picking up the phone, she dialed the number on the letter. “Hello? Dean Nicholson? My name is Dawn Summers. I was accepted into the Linguistics program at Oxford University, but I’m calling to inform you of my decision to defer my acceptance for a year. My sister has just died and I am needed in America for a while…”

Three days later, Dawn stepped foot on American soil for the first time since leaving Sunnydale. Her eyes hurt in the hot sun and as she looked around at the unfamiliar airport she wondered if she had made the right decision.

She felt bad for having deceived the others, but she couldn’t go to Cleveland. She liked Faith, but the Slayer was just another reminder of Buffy. So Dawn boarded the flight at Fiumicino to Heathrow and then continued on to O’Hare in Chicago. Instead of continuing the last leg to Hopkins International, however, she instead bought a new plane ticket which led her to here: McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

She had dropped her cell phone in the garbage in Chicago knowing that Willow could easily hack it. She put on a hat and changed her clothes before boarding the flight to Vegas, feeling paranoid, but knowing that with Buffy gone, the Scoobies would do anything to track Dawn down. She wasn’t planning on staying in Vegas long so she didn’t mind that her name was on her plane ticket. By the time anyone got to the city, Dawn would already be long gone.

Dawn left the airport and headed toward a used car store. She bought up a beat up, old Chevy that, despite its appearances, ran well. It wasn’t until Dawn was on the road through Las Vegas that she realized she had no idea where she was going. She pulled over to the side of the road to think. She hadn’t really planned ahead beyond getting to Vegas and getting a car.

One thing was for certain, Dawn still needed training.

She couldn’t be some helpless little girl anymore. Buffy wasn’t around to rescue her anymore and there were a lot of demons and vampires out there itching to kill a slayer.

After a moment’s hesitation, Dawn slipped out of the car and walked to a payphone. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she used one of these, but it would have to do until she bought a new cell.

“Yes, I need Wolfram & Hart. LA branch,” Dawn spoke to the operator. After a minute of ringing, someone picked up on the other end.

“Wolfram & Hart,” a male voice answered. “How may I direct your call?”

“I need to speak with-” Dawn got cut off before she could finish her sentence.

“One moment, please, as I transfer your call.”

The brunette bit her lip in confusion. She hadn’t even gotten the name out, how did they expect to transfer her call? That being said, it was a demon law firm. So maybe they had ways of knowing…

“’Ello?” a voice asked on the other end of the line.

“Spike?” Dawn whispered, her heart aching at the familiarity of his voice. “There’s some stuff I need to tell you. I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was originally posted on my livejournal (tenshinrtaiga.livejournal.com). For accompanying art and fanmix, please go there and follow the link to my artist's, Jadaryl, website. This fic was written for 2012 Round 4 of the SN Cross Big Bang.


	2. Chapter 2

May 26, 2004

Breaking the news of Buffy’s death to Spike was harder than she thought it would be. To be fair, she hadn’t thought about it at all. Calling Spike had been a spur of the moment decision fueled by the need to learn how to fight.

Dawn winced as she heard something large crash into something equally large and break. After a few moments, Spike returned to the phone, his breath ragged for someone who didn’t need the oxygen.

“The Poofter has a son,” he finally said after he took a moment to collect his thoughts. “It’s a long, convoluted story that I don’t even know entirely, but from what I do know, the two of you have a lot in common. He goes to school up north at Stanford. Tell him… I dunno, tell him something. Tell him Angel sent you. If he calls down here, I’ll make something up with the Ponce. His name is Connor Reilly and he can take care of you.”

Dawn scowled in response. “I don’t need to be taken care of, Spike. I need to be trained.”

Spike sighed and Dawn could hear him puffing on a cigarette. “I know. And he can be the one to do it. I wish I could do it myself, but this is the first place Giles and the others will look.” Dawn nibbled on her lower lip in thought, but agreed with his words. “He’s a good kid, or so they say,” Spike continued. “He’s got a lot in common with you and he’s in school. Speaking of, shouldn’t you be getting ready to start one of those right around now?”

A wobbly smile made its way across Dawn’s lips. “I got into Oxford’s Linguistic program.”

“Bloody hell, Nibs. That’s great!” Spike sounded genuinely excited for her.

“I… didn’t get a chance to tell Buffy,” Dawn whispered, bringing the mood right back down to solemn. “I ended up having to defer anyway. What with the Slayer training and all.”

Spike let out a small sigh. “She wouldn’t have wanted this for you,” he stated simply.

“I know,” she answered, her voice small. “But this is what I’ve got.”

The two shared a solemn moment before Spike spoke again. “I’ll break the news to Peaches. I’ll tell him Andrew told me or something; I won’t even mention your name. He can’t say a word to the Watcher if he doesn’t know himself.”

“Thanks,” Dawn muttered gratefully. “I’ll head to Palo Alto. I’ll call you when I get there, okay? Do you have a cell number I can reach you?”

Spike rattled off a list of numbers that Dawn quickly scratched into the phone book in front of her before ripping the page out and tucking it into her pocket. She was about ready to hang up when Spike called out to her.

“I just have to know,” he admitted painfully. “How…?”

Dawn hesitated to answer knowing that he deserved the truth but that it would only make him angrier. “Dana,” she finally replied.

A loud string of curses rattled over the phone for several minutes before Spike was once again calm enough to speak. “I knew I should have killed that psycho Slayer when I had the chance,” he spat angrily, his teeth gnashing in frustration.

“Buffy had hope,” Dawn whispered. “She always had hope.”

It was on that note that Dawn hung up and climbed into her car. She drove to a nearby hotel to rest for the night and was out the door early the next morning. It was a long drive to Palo Alto.

By mid-afternoon, Dawn was cursing the hot California sun, her car’s broken air conditioner and all of the National Parks that made driving directly to Stanford impossible. Instead of going straight across, Dawn was forced to take the I-15 south toward LA before getting on the I-5 north, thereby maneuvering around all of the National Parks, Forests and other Preserves. To say these were some of the worst ten hours of her life was putting it mildly.

She finally made it to Palo Alto a little before seven at night. Opting to get a hotel room instead of tracking down ‘Connor Reilly’ immediately, she headed straight to the nearest restaurant, starving after spending all day on the road. She let out a sigh of satisfaction as she ate. Now that she had a minute to herself where she wasn’t all ‘go go go’ she could admit to herself that she had really missed America. After leaving Sunnydale, she (and Buffy) had jumped at the chance to travel the world. And settling in Rome was definitely a great choice, but the fact of the matter was, it wasn’t home. It wasn’t the hot California heat or the multi-cultural food or the American accents. Rome just couldn’t compare.

Dawn’s lower lip began to tremble. She couldn’t help but wonder if Buffy would have felt the same way about returning to California. After Spike had told her to see Connor, she was hesitant. She hadn’t really planned on returning to the Golden State; not for a long time. Not when it reminded her of Buffy. It was the same reason she left Rome, left the Slayer school and the International Watchers Council.

But she couldn’t afford to be picky. She needed training and she needed it from someone with no connection to Giles or the others. And Palo Alto was far enough away from where Sunnydale used to be that Dawn had felt confident in going. Of course that was in Las Vegas. Now that she was actually in California, she was beginning to feel differently.

“Your check,” the waiter spoke, inadvertently interrupting Dawn’s thoughts.

Dawn smiled, thankful for the interruption. Her thoughts had started to lead her down a depressing road and she didn’t want to make a scene by bursting into tears in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

The next morning, she headed into the heart of Stanford and went to the main office in search of Connor’s address. Unfortunately, this proved more difficult than she anticipated. Since Dawn wasn’t family, they couldn’t release that information, but if Dawn had been family, she wouldn’t need their help to begin with since she could have just called Connor herself.

“This is getting ridiculous!” Dawn cried out in frustration. “Can’t you just call him and tell him I’m here?” she asked.

“Oh!” the older woman behind the desk gave a smile. “Yes. That we can do.”

Dawn gave a sigh of relief despite the slight irritation she felt. The woman could have offered that solution ten minutes ago instead of continuing to roadblock Dawn. Dawn looked up and realized that the lady had Connor on the phone already. “Tell him Angel sent me,” she spoke.

The woman relayed the message before nodding at whatever Connor said. “Okay,” the woman agreed before hanging up. She turned to face Dawn before speaking. “He says he’s on his way.”

Nodding, Dawn turned around and sat in one of the chairs to wait for the boy’s arrival. She vaguely wondered what he looked like. She pictured a tall, brooding brunette with a frown on his face. What walked in was a short boy with dirty blond hair. Well, at least she got the brooding frown right.

“Connor?” she asked as she stood up. When he nodded, she gave a relieved smile. “I’m Dawn.” She gave a furtive look around at the many people in the office. “Wanna take a walk?” she asked, nodding at the door. Connor hesitated, clearly unsure of going anywhere alone with someone he didn’t know. “We can keep to the main campus,” Dawn smiled, trying to compromise. “We’ll just walk around and I can explain everything.”

This seemed to satisfy Connor and the duo made their way outside to the crisp California air. “So, I guess I should start by saying Angel didn’t actually send me,” Dawn reluctantly started. Connor immediately stopped in his tracks, body tense as if waiting for a fight. “Spike did,” she grinned, holding her hands up in surrender. “I… really don’t know much about you. Anything, really. I just know that you’re Angel’s son, that you and I have a lot in common – though I have no idea what – and that you can help me.”

Connor paused as he tried to remember who Spike was. “The blond English vampire?” he finally asked.

“That’s Spike,” Dawn nodded.

“And what kind of help?” Connor questioned.

“Ah,” Dawn sighed. “Well, I guess I should start by asking how much has Angel told you about Slayers and about his ex-girlfriend Buffy?”

Connor paused in thought. “Slayers are girls whose destiny is to kill vampires and demons. Buffy is a Slayer,” he summarized.

“Okay, well, there used to only be one Slayer, but Willow – our witch – did a spell and now every girl who had the potential to be a Slayer is one. My sister founded a school for them and was their leader, but she died. When Buffy died, somehow her Slayer power transferred to me. I can’t go to the Slayer school.” Dawn’s eyes grew dark in sadness. “There are too many memories there. But I need to be trained. Spike said you could help.”

Connor looked at her oddly. “You want me to train you?”

Dawn nodded. “Please.”

He let out a small sigh. “My dad gave up everything so that I wouldn’t be a part of that anymore. No more demons, no more vampires, no more killing. I’m just a student now.”

“And you don’t have to be anything more!” Dawn hurried to reassure. “You just have to train me. You don’t need to hunt.”

Connor looked at her skeptically. He didn’t think he could start fighting again and not continue even after he finished helping her. But at the same time, he couldn’t just turn her down. Mostly because his dad also taught him to always help those that needed it. “Okay,” he agreed. Connor choked on brown hair as Dawn squealed in happiness and jumped into his arms for a hug. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and quickly let go. “Alright already,” he blushed, pushing her away. “I don’t have class until this afternoon. You wanna start now?”  
~~~  
September 26, 2004

“Hey, Con!” Dawn smiled widely as she gave a large wave to her best friend. “How was LA?” she asked with a grin as she bound over to him, calling over her shoulder that she was going on break.

Despite having access to her old and rather extensive bank account that she had shared with Buffy, she had wanted to do more with her life than just train. That’s how she ended up with a job at a bookstore in town. It wasn’t much, but it allowed her to keep her old account usage to a minimum. She had used the money to pay the rent on a small apartment near the Stanford campus, but this semester, she and Connor had decided to move in together since Connor had finally decided to leave the dorms now that he was a sophomore. Between his wealthy parents and Angel’s allowance, Connor had more than enough money to pay rent on a large two bedroom apartment. Dawn protested, she had more than enough money to pay half the rent, but Connor compromised saying that he’d pay rent and she’d pay for everything else. Given the sheer amount of food the two consumed, she felt that was more than fair.

“How was your first day back?” she asked excitedly, joining him at one of the tables in the front of the store.

“Good,” Connor smiled. “Boring.” Dawn laughed, but Connor eyed her in speculation. “You know, you should be starting school this year.” And just like that, Dawn’s laughter faded away.

She looked to the side sadly. “I know,” she replied. “I was supposed to start Oxford.”

“You could have gone back,” Connor leaned back in his chair, relaxing as he pondered on his friend.

Dawn shook her head. Even five months later, the slightest reminder of Buffy still made her sad. “I… can’t go back.”

“So, what? You’re just never going to return to Europe again? Or go farther south into California that Palo Alto?” he asked, his tone cold, but not cruel.

Dawn hesitated, before nodding resolutely. “Yep. That’s the plan,” she smiled, trying to lift the heavy mood.

Connor gave a sigh, but let the subject go. “I have to get back. I have one more class,” he grinned, standing up. Dawn stood up as well and gave him a quick hug. Dawn was a very tactile person and Connor was not. Or at least he wasn’t before his memories were changed. It had been hard on him when he first remembered everything. He hadn’t known how to act. One set of memories had him as a happy-go-lucky kid and another had him as a lean, mean, demon killing machine. Dawn had helped him balance out his personality and while he still wasn’t a very touchy person, he had long grown used to her spontaneous need to hug.

Before she left to return to work, Connor handed her a Stanford folder. “What’s this?” she asked in curiosity. Connor just shrugged with a small smirk on his lips and walked out. Opening the folder, Dawn blinked in surprise. Inside was an application for Stanford’s winter quarter.

~~~

November 19, 2004

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! You look like a Brachen! And you act like one too!” Dawn sang happily ignoring their friends’ odd looks at the word Brachen. It’s not like they had a clue what the spiked faced demons looked like.

Connor, however, did and gave a good laugh at the imagery before blowing out the candles on his cake. He sliced the cake into pieces and handed the slices out. It was as they were digging in that Dawn spoke up. “So, how does it feel to be four?” she asked with a smile on her face. One of those things that she and Connor had in common was that they looked older than they technically were.

“A lot like three and two,” Connor admitted easily, once again ignoring their friends’ odd looks. By now, they should all have gotten used to Connor and Dawn’s weird inside ‘jokes’. “Not like one at all.”

Dawn nodded agreeably. “We like to forget that year.” Connor had spent his first ‘year’ in a hell dimension and Dawn had spent it being chased by Glory. “On a better note,” Dawn grinned and handed him a letter.

Opening it, Connor read through the contents, a smile appearing on his face. “You’re coming to Stanford next quarter?” he asked excitedly causing the small group around them to squeal in congratulations.

 

”Well, someone kept pushing me,” Dawn rolled her eyes but smiled at him fondly.

Connor grinned back before a serious look appeared on his face. “This is not a birthday present,” he made sure to clarify causing Dawn to let out a loud peal of laughter.

~~~

January 2, 2005

“Happy birthday,” Connor whispered softly at the passed out girl in his bed. He had come home earlier to celebrate the occasion with his best friend, but had instead found her half drunk sobbing into her bottle.

It had taken several hours and two Kleenex boxes before she admitted that this was her first birthday without her sister.

“My dad couldn’t care less, my mom’s gone, Buffy’s gone. I have no one!” she had sobbed into Connor shirt. “No family. They’re all gone.”

Almost a year later and Buffy’s absence still hurt Dawn terribly, but Connor suspected it might always be like that. He wouldn’t really know since the only family member he had that died was his mom and that was when he was born so he didn’t actually know Darla like Dawn knew Buffy and her mom.  
~~~  
January 9, 2005

“I’m so excited!” Dawn sang, “And I just can’t hide it!”

Connor gave a laugh as he watched her skip – yes, skip – past him on her way to her first class. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone this excited for school.”

Dawn shrugged. “I wasn’t a big school person either, but this is linguistics,” she emphasized. “As in my forte. As in what I love.”

Connor shrugged. “You might find that an actual linguistics class is different than what you expect it to be,” he warned. Dawn gave a knowing smile, but said nothing. “So, what’s your first class, anyway?”

“Language of Food,” Dawn shrugged easily, but the growing smirk on her face said she knew exactly what she was saying.

“Wait, what?” Connor asked in surprise. “The Language of Food? There’s a Language of Food class? How could I not have known about this?” he asked himself in wonder, ignoring Dawn’s laughter. “Hey, do you think it’s too late to sign up…”

~~~

June 13, 2005

“Are you sure you want to spend the summer in school?” Connor asked as he packed the last of his things into his bag.

“I finally got approval to double major in Anthropology. I want to take some classes.” Dawn smiled. “Plus, where else would I go?” she asked in a blasé tone, but Connor could hear the underlying pain.

“I told you, you can come home with me,” Connor leaned over to put a hand on her shoulder. “My parents are dying to finally meet you. It’s been over a year.”

Dawn gave him a weary grin. “You know I can’t. If Angel sees me or if any of the Scoobies are there…” she doesn’t mention the memories of her family, but he knows that’s what she’s thinking about.

“Alright. If you’re sure,” he sighed as he heaved the bag onto his shoulder. “So, wait. You’re a double major?” Connor asked incredulously.

“Well, if I want to go into a Linguistic Anthropology PhD program, I’m going to need both Linguistics and Anthropology,” Dawn replied with sass.

Connor shook his head, muttering about crazy best friends with crazy work loads.

“Besides, they’ve also approved my minor in East Asian Languages and Cultures,” Dawn grinned brightly, pretending not to hear his complaints. “I’ve missed learning new languages. I’m taking both Chinese and Japanese which my advisor says is suicide but when I pointed out the sheer amount of languages I already…”

~~~

October 27, 2005

Dawn laughed into her phone hard as she listened to Spike retell a story about a prank he pulled on Angel. “Why orange?” she asked incredulously.

“I was feeling festive,” Spike replied as he took a drag of his cigarette. “How’s school?”

“Good. I’ve been studying- Oh!” She gasped as she accidentally slammed into someone. “Sorry!”

“No, I’m sorry,” the blonde replied with a smile. She tossed the words, “I wasn’t looking,” over her shoulder as she rushed down the hall towards a classroom.

It wasn’t until Dawn was out of the building that she realized her shoulder hurt. It wasn’t until she was at her apartment that she realized that anything that could make a Slayer hurt wasn’t just a normal college girl.


	3. Chapter 3

October 29, 2005

There were no words to describe how tedious it was to track down one Jessica Moore. First Dawn had to figure out which class the blonde had walked into. Then she had to check the attendance registry. Next, she had to cross-reference the names with their student picture IDs. Finally, after getting the name ‘Jessica Moore’ she had to track down an address.

This led her to early yesterday morning when she began stalking the older college student.

So far, Jessica seemed like a normal college student with a normal major, a normal boyfriend and a normal life. Except for the occasional ‘accident’ where things broke in her hands, doors busted open and gentle slaps left people bruised.

For Dawn, who grew up in a Slayer household, it was easy to see the signs.

“So, consensus?” Connor questioned as he sipped at his coffee, warily eyeing the blonde sitting only three tables away from them in the library.

“Slayer.” Dawn nodded resolutely. “No question.”

Connor nodded in agreement having come to the same conclusion given his early experience training Dawn. “What are you going to do?” he asked worriedly. Dawn had been making good progress. She hadn’t broken down into tears at the mere thought of her sister since January: first on Dawn’s birthday and then a few weeks later on Buffy’s. This – a new Slayer – threatened to ruin all the steps Dawn took forward.

“I have to tell her,” Dawn admitted reluctantly, taking a sip of her own coffee. “Can you hand me that book on kanji?” she asked, reaching out a hand.

He looked at her blankly. “On what?”

“Pretty Asian word scribbles,” she replied slowly, gesturing to the book under his elbow.

“Ah,” he said with a nod, sliding the book over to her. “You’re still taking both Chinese and Japanese?”

“Mandarin,” she corrected with a nod, focusing on her homework which consisted of translating a small paragraph of Japanese into English. It was tricky because it contained a few proverbs which didn’t always mean the same thing when translated literally. “I’ve missed this,” she spoke with a contented sigh.

Connor looked down at his best friend oddly. “Weirdo,” he muttered fondly. “What are you going to say?”

“He was giving gold coins to a cat,” Dawn replied.

“What?” he asked in confusion.

The brunette girl nodded. “Yeah. I think it means he was giving a gift to someone who wouldn’t appreciate it. I’ll asterisk that and put the literal translation at the bottom so that my Professor sees I understood both.”

“That’s nice, but I was referring to Jessica.”

Dawn looked up in confusion. “Jessica has a cat?” Connor gave a weary sigh and dropped his head onto the table in front of him as he waited for Dawn, who was now actually paying attention again, to process the conversation they had been having enough to realize what he was talking about. “Oh! What am I going to say to- I gotcha!” She smiled. “I was planning on giving her the Slayer speech followed by the spell explanation and finish off with the IWC phone number and a plea not to tell them who gave it to her.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Simple, direct, easy. Do you think it will work?”

“Probably not.”  
~~~  
October 31, 2005

“Are you sure you want to do this on Halloween?” Connor asked as he lounged on Dawn’s bed waiting for the brunette to finish getting dressed. “She might think it’s a joke.”

“Well I tried to corner her alone yesterday, but I think she’s realized she’s being followed because she didn’t leave her boyfriend’s side except to go to crowded, public places.” Dawn stepped out of her bathroom in baggy sweats and a tight tank top. She wore large hoop earrings, dark make up and a few fake tattoos placed around her body. All in all, she made for a great gangster. “What are you supposed to be?” she asked, looking down at Connor who looked no different that he did the other 364 days of the year.

“The supernatural child of two vampires,” Connor deadpanned.

Dawn paused for a moment as she realized what Connor’s words meant. “In other words, you didn’t feel like dressing up. Lame!” She grabbed her large zip up hoodie from the bed and the two left, making their way to the big party where they knew for a fact Jessica would be.

“Why bother dressing like a supernatural creature when we are one?” Connor asked rhetorically.

Dawn shook her head in exasperation. She had made good progress on helping Connor cope with the social niceties that he had missed out on while living in a hell dimension and his own magicked memories helped a lot, but there were still times where his ignorance was appalling. “Halloween is come-as-you-aren’t night. We are supernatural creatures. So, on Halloween you dress as something you aren’t. I’m not a gangster.”

“You’re a gangster?” Connor looked down at her costume in surprise. “I thought you were a hip hop dancer.”

Dawn shrugged at the idea that her costume was vague. “I’m not one of those either,” she explained.

“Hmm. Well if its come-as-you-aren’t, then I’m dressed as a human,” Connor replied with a proud grin, knowing how much that answer would piss his best friend off.

Sure enough, Dawn shook her head in disappointment. “Halloween is wasted on you.”

The two flashed their fake IDs at went into the bar with no problems. The place was crowded and hot, made even more so by the creepy fog and bubbling cauldrons placed as decorations. Spotting Jessica and her boyfriend Sam with some friends at a table, Dawn pulled Connor into a corner where they could see the group better.

“Uhm, Dawn?” Connor spoke hesitantly. “I’m not comfortable with this.” Dawn looked over at him blankly and he just nodded for her to look around them. Sure enough, this was apparently the make out corner and Dawn and Connor were right in the middle of what was likely to become an orgy. “Besides, this is both public and crowded, so how did you plan on talking to Jessica?”

Dawn hesitated. “Er. I’ll get back to you on that,” she muttered as she quickly dragged Connor away from the couples and into a booth that still allowed them a good vantage. A couple hours later, Sam stood up and made his way to the bar to pay the tab as Jessica headed toward the bathroom. Spotting her chance, she muttered to Connor, “Distract Sam if it looks like he’s getting suspicious,” before darting into the bathroom herself.

Making sure that there was no one else inside the other stalls, Dawn quickly locked the bathroom door and waited for Jessica to finish. When the blonde came out to wash her hands, Dawn jumped on the opportunity. “I know this is going to sound weird, but I need to tell you something.”

“What?” Jessica asked in confusion.

“A couple years ago, you felt a surge and suddenly it was like you could do anything. You were stronger and faster and you began getting these dreams…” Dawn dove right in, knowing that she only had a little bit of time before Sam would get suspicious and come looking for his girlfriend.

“What?” Now Jessica’s voice was shaky, as if afraid of what Dawn was saying.

“You aren’t the only one,” Dawn offered as she reached out to grab a solid bar of soap and snapped it like it was a twig. “We’re Slayers. There is darkness in the world; real darkness. Demons, vampires, witches, werewolves, anything you can think of, it’s real. Slayers are girls – warriors – who are meant to fight evil. Not all supernatural creatures are bad, but those that are need to be dealt with before they can hurt others and that’s where we come in. There used to only be one of us, but a spell was done and now there are many. There’s a school in England run by a group called the International Watchers Council. You’re a little old to attend, but they can still help you control your powers. They can explain everything to you.” Dawn held out a piece of paper with the telephone number scribbled on it.

Jessica looked at her like she was crazy. “Is this some sort of joke?” she asked.

“Is your strength a joke?” Dawn returned. “Is your speed a joke? Is that tingling feeling you get around some people that lets you know that they can’t be trusted a joke? I’m sorry, Jessica, but this is very real. Take the number. Call them. But don’t tell them about me.”

She hesitantly reached out and grabbed the number. “Why can’t I tell them about you?”

Dawn gave a bittersweet smile. “Because I’m not ready to go home yet,” she answered honestly before unlocking the door and leaving. She spotted Connor at the bar acting drunk and talking to (more like annoying) Sam. Putting on her best flirty grin, she walked up to him. “There you are, babe. I’m ready to go now,” she purred, fluttering her lashes up at Connor. If Sam had been looking at Connor the way Dawn was, he would have seen the revulsion in Connor’s eyes and the shudder that went down his spine. As it was, Sam was just relieved that Connor would be going. With a high pitched giggle, Dawn dragged the blond boy out the front door.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Connor muttered in disgust as he shook off Dawn’s arms from around his body. Dawn just let out a laugh. “Mission complete?”

Dawn nodded, resting her head wearily on Connor’s shoulder. Talking to the new Slayer had brought up a lot of old memories. It had taken more out of the girl than she had realized. “It’s up to her now,” she whispered, wondering if the blonde would call the IWC.

~~~

November 4, 2005

“Connor!” Dawn shrieked early in the morning. “I can’t believe it. Connor!”

“What?” he asked grumpily, stumbling out of his bedroom. He didn’t have a class until noon and had been enjoying a lie in.

“Jessica. She’s dead!” Dawn breathed out in surprise shoving the paper in front of him to read.

“A fire?” Connor asked in surprise, his eyes continuing to scan the article. “There’s no way she would have been trapped. She could have lifted any beams that might have fallen and she would have survived a third story jump no problem.”

“So it must be something else,” Dawn nodded having already come to the same conclusion. “Look,” she pointed toward the bottom of the paper. “Her boyfriend survived. I think we need to have a little chat with this Sam Winchester guy.”  
~~~  
November 7, 2005

It turned out that finding Sam Winchester was rather difficult. Obviously he was no longer staying at his apartment and he hadn’t shown up to his classes since the fire. The only choice left was to corner him at Jessica’s funeral.

“I feel like a douchebag,” Connor muttered as he fidgeted uncomfortably with his tie. “What kind of person corners a guy at his girlfriend’s funeral?”

Dawn shifted uncomfortably as well. She didn’t like funerals and it didn’t help that she had been to far too many of them. “Look, I know, okay? But we don’t have a lot of options open to us right now. We tried tracking him down, but there are plenty of hotels and motels in Palo Alto. And for all we know he’s been staying with a friend. This was the only place we knew he’d be.”

“We hoped he’d be,” Connor corrected sullenly. The truth was they had no idea whether or not Sam would show up let alone if he was even still in the area. Jessica had died suspiciously and for all they knew, Sam had been the cause.

“Well, we were right,” Dawn nodded her head at the tall boy several feet away. “There he is.” The two waited until the service was over and Jessica’s coffin was lowered to the ground. Gradually, the crowd disappeared, but Sam stayed behind. Dawn and Connor moved away to give Sam some privacy to grieve, but the minute he moved to leave, the two cornered him.

“Sam Winchester?” Dawn asked despite already knowing the answer.

The tall man turned around in surprise, not having heard the two come up behind him. “Yeah?” he asked.

“I’m Dawn and this is Connor. We were friends of Jessica’s,” Dawn introduced but Sam’s eyes had narrowed in suspicion.

“Jessica never mentioned you,” Sam crossed his arms defensively. Then he took a good look at them and his eyes narrowed further. “I recognize you two. You were the ones from the bar on Halloween.”

Dawn winced. She hadn’t planned on being recognized. “Yeah, we were. And we were friends with Jessica. Or at least I was,” she lied lightly. “I heard that you were with her when she died. I just wanted to know if you saw something.”

“Saw something?” Sam was looking even more suspicious and his hand began itching toward his back like he was looking for something.

“The police don’t know what started the fire,” Connor explained. “We were wondering if you saw anything.”

“If I did, don’t you think I would have said something?” the tall boy replied, now firmly gripping something. Out of the corner of their eye, both Dawn and Connor noticed another figure heading towards them rapidly.

“I smell a trap,” Connor muttered to Dawn.

“Ditto,” she replied back.

Hearing them, Sam swiftly pulled out the object from his back, showing off a shining silver gun. Without thought, Connor struck out with his hand and gripped the man’s wrist before he could shoot. As Connor took care of Sam, Dawn took on the newcomer. At a little over six foot with sandy hair and green eyes, he was more than a little attractive. Dawn almost felt sorry for having to punch his face in.

The boys were good fighters – more than good actually – but in the end, they were no match for Dawn and Connor’s supernatural speed and strength. “What did you do to Jessica?” she screamed as she bashed the other man’s head into the ground.

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked, his arms held behind his back as Connor pinned him tightly. “You are the ones who did something to Jessica!”

“Don’t fuck with us,” Connor grunted angrily as he roughly shoved Sam on top of the other man. Dawn looked at Connor with a slightly raised eyebrow. She couldn’t remember the last time she heard Connor swear, if ever. “We know you had something to do with Jessica’s death. There was no way a fire could kill her. She would have survived a three story jump. So, what did you do to her?”

“Tell us and we might kill you quickly,” Dawn added, brandishing a knife she had kept tucked in her black heeled boots.

“We didn’t do anything!” the nameless man spat. “Sam came home to find her already dead! We didn’t see the thing that killed her.”

“You’re lying!” Connor yelled before taking a step forward to punch the guy. Dawn quickly grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Wait,” she cautioned before turning to the man again. “Thing?” she asked, having picked up on the word.

The two men on the ground looked at each other, sharing their thoughts silently before turning to look at their captors. “Thing,” Sam confirmed. “How did you beat us?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Tell us about this ‘thing’ first,” Dawn compromised. “Then we’ll tell you about us.”

Again, the two shared a look before speaking. “When I came home, Jessica was on the ceiling, her stomach split open. And then she burst into flames,” Sam spoke, eyes trained firmly on the ground as if afraid that if he looked someone in the eyes, he would begin to tear up.

“Jessica was attacked?” Connor murmured in complete surprise. This time he and Dawn were the ones to share knowing looks.

“What? What is it?” Sam asked desperately as he noticed the looks. “What do you know?”

“Dude, shut up,” the second man grunted. “They probably don’t know shit. They’re messing with us.”

Dawn looked down at the handsome man as he glared back up at her with a sneer. Then she turned her gaze to Sam. “We know that no ordinary person could have taken Jessica down. She was too strong, too fast for that.”

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked in suspicious confusion.

One last glance was shared between Dawn and Connor before Dawn finally answered the man. “I guess I should start the story by saying the earth is a lot older than you think…”


	4. Chapter 4

“So, you’re saying Jessica was this… Slayer,” Sam repeated slowly. After realizing that Sam and Dean weren’t the bad guy, Dawn and Connor had let them up. Sam had been desperate for answers and Dawn had been desperate for coffee. These two needs led them to the nearest Starbucks where the four took up a corner and began talking.

At first, Sam and Dean had been confused and when Dawn tried to reassure them that the supernatural was real, it was Dawn and Connor’s turn to be confused when the brothers assured her that they knew that. They just didn’t know that vampires still roamed around or that they were created by ancient demons. To say it was an interesting conversation was putting it mildly.

~~~

November 19, 2005

“This is ridiculous!” Dawn muttered as she shifted uncomfortably in her clothes. “Why am I always the distraction?”

The Winchesters said nothing, focusing solely on their target; a building across the street. Connor, however, was used to the chit-chat and answered, “Because you look better than us in a mini skirt.”

The brunette scoffed. “That’s debatable,” she retorted causing all three guys to look at her strangely. “I’m not saying its not true, I’m just saying that its debatable. I, personally, would need to see you guys in a mini skirt to make that decision,” she teased before getting serious. “Okay, explain this to me again?”

“We already went over the plan,” Dean replied. It was bad enough that they had tag-alongs while hunting, but they had a habit of never listening and always screwing up the plan. And yet, despite that, they always managed to get the job done. He vaguely wondered if luck was one of their superpowers.

After having finished their discussion that day at Jessica’s funeral, the two brothers had been shocked when the next day, prior to taking off, they found Connor and Dawn waiting for them at the Impala. Apparently, the two had come to the decision the night before that anything dangerous enough to take out a Slayer, even an untrained one, was something that needed to be further looked into. Especially since the boys had little to no information on the thing themselves. Sam and Dean had tried to argue, but the other two had remained stubborn. Now the four of them were on the road, going where John Winchester’s messages led them, hoping to meet up with the only man who knew about the thing that killed Jess.

“You go and distract the guard while Sam, Connor and I sneak in. You’ll meet us around back where we’ll have opened the back door for you. You and Connor will head to the coroner’s office to take a look at the autopsy notes while Sam and I check out the dead body to see if there’s anything that they missed,” Dean explained again.

“There might be a problem with that plan,” Connor put in, eyes glued to the building that they would be breaking into.

“What?” Dean growled in annoyance, turning to look at the shorter blond. Connor nodded his head toward the building prompting Dean to look as well. There, walking around the building on patrol was a guard, just as expected. What was not expected was the fact that the guard was clearly female.

“Huh,” Dawn smiled, clapping her hand hard on Dean’s shoulder. “Looks like it’s someone else’s turn to be the distraction,” she said with a smirk. Her smirk grew wider when the guard turned around to reveal an older woman who, to put it politely, had not aged well.

“Aw, man,” Dean whined.

Sam’s lips trembled in an effort not to smile or laugh. “It’s okay, Dean. We can come up with another way in,” he offered insincerely.

Dawn and Connor looked at him like he was crazy. “Don’t be stupid,” she said dismissively before lightly shoving Dean forward. The only problem was that a light shove for her sent Dean flying harshly, almost hitting the ground if he hadn’t recovered his balance in time. He turned to shoot her a glare over his shoulder, but Dawn just shrugged dismissively. “Dean-o can take one for the team,” she finished telling Sam.

Dean blinked at hearing his father’s nickname for him come out of Dawn’s mouth but thought nothing of it. If there was one thing he’d learned while living with Dawn these last few weeks, it was that she could and would nickname everything and everyone if she could get away with it. With a low growl, he marched forward, crossing the street. They may be chuckling at him now, but if he backed out of distracting the old lady, he’d never hear the end of it.

Sam picked the lock while Dawn and Connor watched in amusement as Dean flirted with the guard. A choked laugh came out of all three when the woman laid one on a totally shocked Dean who had been caught by complete surprise. Dawn’s lips twitched as they fought between the need to laugh hysterically and the need to be quiet so that the guard wouldn’t see them.

“That reminds me,” she said, clapping a strong hand on Connor’s shoulder as they watched in amusement as Dean tried to pry the lady off of him. “Happy birthday, dude.”  
~~~  
December 28, 2005

“Argh!” Dawn screeched as she slammed a book shut and threw herself back on the bed. She flung her arm across her head and buried her face in the crook, trying to ignore the world.

“You okay over there, Princess?” Dean smirked from behind a cup of coffee as he sat next to Sam and Connor at the small table inside the motel room. In the months since they’d begun working together, they’d all finally managed to reach a good groove and surprisingly enough Dean and Dawn were the one who got along the most, probably because they were a lot alike. Teasing, sarcastic, jokers…

Dawn said nothing, merely lifting her left hand enough to give him the finger. “You’ve been spending too much time with Spike,” Connor noted with disinterest. Dawn hadn’t actually seen the vampire in years – since Sunnydale – but she still talked to him often and had just spoken with the Brit the other day on Christmas. It had been a nice surprise to receive his phone call and Dawn was touched that he had thought of her. Spike had even spoken to Connor for a while, having taken a liking to the boy. Dawn suspected he thought of Connor like family, not that the vampire would admit it since doing so would also mean admitting he still thought of Angel as family too.

“Have not,” she grumbled half-heartedly before giving a weary sigh.

Connor became genuinely worried. Dawn was generally a pretty happy girl. The only time she was depressed like this was when she thought of her sister. “Are you upset because January’s coming up?” he asked carefully as he moved to sit next to her on the bed. Ignoring the curious looks he received from the Winchester brothers at his words, he plowed ahead. “We could take a break for a while, if you want. Stop hunting,” Connor offered as he reached down and raked his fingers comfortingly through her hair. He had learned a while ago that Buffy had used to do that for Dawn all the time and that it was the only thing that helped calm the girl down when she got upset.

This time Sam and Dean choked in surprise at what the blond boy was offering but neither Dawn nor Connor were paying attention to them. “No, it’s not… that,” Dawn replied, removing her arm from her face and moving onto her side to curl her body toward Connor. “I can’t find any information on Jessica’s killer.” Sam drew a sharp breath and it was silent in the room as they all processed her words. Dawn sat up and leaned against the headboard as she continued on. “I’ve checked every book I have; books of shadows, grimoires, demon texts, hell, I’ve even taken to combing the internet!” she cried out slightly hysterically, throwing her hands up in frustration. “I’ve checked every source you, me and Spike have. Spike’s even been making inquiries using Angelus’ name and the Order of Aurelius and you know how much he hates doing that, but still nothing.”

Sam stood up, his teeth grit angrily. He had known that Dawn had been searching – he had been too – but he hadn’t realized how many sources she had been looking into and for all of them to have come up dry? “So, what?” he asked. “What does this mean?”

Dawn sighed wearily once more before turning her head to look at Connor who was also looking at her in the same searching manner that the Winchesters were. “There are only two places I haven’t looked that I can think of,” she admitted softly to the blond boy next to her. “The Diaries and the Prophecy Room.”

Connor sucked in a deep breath of surprise as his eyebrow rose. “The diaries?” Dean asked in confusion. “What, like some whiny little twelve year old girl is gonna know what killed Sammy’s girlfriend?”

Dawn rolled her eyes, though there was a reluctant grin on her face. “Well, you aren’t far off. They do act like whiny twelve year old girls.” She turned to look at Connor out of the side of her eye, but he was still too surprised by her earlier revelation to find her funny. “The Watcher Diaries are the Watcher records of every Slayer and the battles they fought. Every demon, ghost, vampire gets documented for future generations. The Prophecy Room is where all of the books of future events are kept. Almost all major battles and enemies are foretold by seers and recorded for future interpretation.”

“Alright, so where are these things?” Sam asked, focused on finding more information.

The brunette girl sighed. This was the hard part. “All diaries and prophecies are property belonging to the International Watchers Council.”

“Well, where are these guys?” Dean asked. “Watchers are the guys that take care of Slayers right? You’re a Slayer so you should know where they are. Come to think of it, why don’t you have a Watcher?”

“The official Headquarters for the IWC is in London,” Dawn replied, ignoring his question about her lack of Watcher. “The unofficial headquarters are in Cardiff, Wales and Cleveland, Ohio.”

“Cardiff and Cleveland?” Sam asked, slightly incredulous. Neither city seemed like it would be the epicenter for an international league of good guys.

“The Slayer School is located just outside Cardiff,” Dawn explained. “And Cleveland is currently home to the largest Hellmouth in the world.” Seeing their confused looks, she clarified, “Devil’s Gate,” knowing that was the hunter term for a Hellmouth.

“Alright, so let’s head to Cleveland,” Sam said, already beginning to pack up his things, Dean doing the same right beside him.

“Are you sure you should be doing this right now?” Connor finally spoke, a worried furrow in his brow reminiscent of his father. “Your birthday’s coming up soon.” And so is Buffy’s, he added silently, knowing she understood what he was really asking. Sam and Dean both stopped what they were doing to look at the other two oddly.

“It’s coming on two years,” Dawn answered, proving that she did know what Connor was really talking about. “I need to go home someday,” she said with a tumultuous smile.

Dean stepped forward, looking at the two in confusion. “Okay, what are we missing here?” he asked seriously.

The brunette girl looked up at him with sad eyes. “I ran away from the IWC,” she admitted. “It’s a long story and to be honest, not one I’m ready to talk about.” She stood up and began packing her own things. “Let’s go.”  
~~~  
December 29, 2005

The four looked up at a tall red brick office building. The only indication that they were in the right spot was the small frosted glass sign mounted to the front reading IWC. It was vague enough that no one would wander in, but specific enough for those who knew what they were looking for.

“It’s not too late,” Connor muttered lowly. “If you want to stay behind, I can go up.”

Dawn shook her head. While it’s true that being Angel’s son would let him in, it would still be better if she was there with him. Besides, it was time to stop running from her sister’s ghost. She had been gone for a year and a half. It was time Dawn came home.

With that in mind, she took her first steps forward, pushing through the door and entering the pleasantly warm lobby. The four of them made their way to the sole occupant, a young woman in jeans and a tee behind the front desk who was skimming through a text book. “Welcome to the IWC,” the girl said plainly once she realized she wasn’t alone. “Can I help you?” she asked in boredom. It was clear that she didn’t think they belonged here, probably because people always called ahead when they went to visit the IWC.

“Yeah, I need to talk to Faith,” Dawn said clearly.

The girl blinked in surprise as she clearly reevaluated them. She picked up the phone and dialed an extension. “Faith? You have four visitors at the front desk,” she said into the receiver before looking back up at Dawn. “Name?” she asked.

“Dawn Summers,” the brunette girl replied.

The receptionist choked in shock. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” she squealed, dropping the phone in excitement. “You’re her! You’re Buffy’s sister! The sister Slayer!” Dawn blinked in surprise, as did her companions. She knew Buffy was a legend, but apparently she’d grown in fame after her death and Dawn along with her. The girl continued on, “The warrior of light, the Key, the-”

“Okay!” Dawn interrupted, raising a hand to silence the girl. “Let me guess, you were trained by Andrew?”

The girl’s eyes widened. “How did you know?” she asked in awe.

Dawn smirked in amusement. “Lucky guess.”

“D,” a familiar voice said behind Dawn. She turned to look, unsurprised to find Faith standing at the elevator, arms crossed over her chest. The way the Slayer had said her name… Dawn had never heard Faith sound that cold. Faith hadn’t sounded disappointed or disapproving, in fact it was the complete lack on inflection that scared Dawn because Faith always had an opinion on something, always had something to say.

“Faith,” Dawn greeted back wary of the girl’s reaction.

The two stared at each other for a long minute before some sort of internal dam burst within the two of them and suddenly they were a tangle of limbs as they hugged and talked, both of them so loud that they couldn’t hear the other, but neither cared and if there were a few tears here and there, well, no one was dumb enough to mention it.

“Why do I get the feeling we didn’t get the whole story?” Dean asked his brother before they both turned to face Connor with a raised brow. Connor just shrugged in response, causing the two to glare lightly. It was times like this that made it easy to see that two were brothers.

Finally the two girls pulled away from each other, melancholy smiles on their faces. “It’s damn good to see you, girl,” Faith greeted, this time with warmth in her voice.

“You too,” Dawn smiled back.


	5. Chapter 5

“So, where’s Wood?” Dawn asked curiously as they followed Faith through a large hallway upstairs.

“Robin and I didn’t really work out,” Faith admitted with a shrug as she held open the door. They all walked in to find a large high tech conference room. There was a desk that took up most of the room shaped in a ‘U’ formation around the front where a large screen was stationed. When Faith led them to sit near the front, they noticed a webcam in the corner and realized that the screen for more than just viewing. “You know me, D. Gotta keep it moving,” she laughed.

It sounded like Wood had failed to keep Faith’s interest and she had gotten bored. Typical Faith. Dawn smiled in amusement as she sat down, Connor next to her followed by Sam then Dean. “So, where is he now? Is he still with the IWC?”

Faith nodded casually as she pulled up a chair to sit across from Dawn on the other side of the table. “Yeah, he works with Kennedy in South America.”

“Kennedy? What about Willow?”

The brunette smirked in wry amusement. “Willow and Kennedy broke up a while ago. Willow is head of the Asian Slayers now.” Dawn shook her head at all of the changes. “While I’m at it, I might as well mention that Wes is here although he’s actually out of town at the moment recruiting a Slayer in New Orleans.”

“I thought he died,” Dawn said in surprise. Faith just gave her a look. “Right,” Dawn said sheepishly. People had a tendency to not stay dead in their world.

“See what you miss when you go AWOL for over a year?” Faith teased. “But I’m sure you’re not here to catch up on the Scooby gang.”

Dawn took a deep breath as she leant back on the tall business chairs. “Faith, you remember Connor, right?” she asked, half uncertain. After the spell on Connor was broken, half of it continued to linger on so it was hard to tell who thought of Connor as Connor Reilly and who still remembered him as Connor Angel.

Faith nodded causing the Dawn and Connor to sigh in relief. “Yeah, Angel’s son. Not good with directions and very anti-vampire. I remember.”

“Yep, that’s me,” Connor replied wryly. “These are our friends Sam and Dean. They’re hunters.”

“Is that where you’ve been all this time?” Faith asked Dawn. “Hunting?”

The lithe brunette shook her head vigorously. “No. After I ditched the plane to Cleveland, I-”

“Hang on,” Faith cut in, standing up. “If it’s explanation time then there’s someone else who needs to hear this.” Dawn worried her lip knowing what was about to happen. Now that she’d come home it was time to face the Scooby gang.

Faith went over to the computer in the corner and with the press of a few buttons the large screen projector was working showing her call someone on Skype. Dawn smiled as her eyes locked on the familiar lined face of Rupert Giles.

“What is it, Faith?” he asked as he stared down at his computer before his eyes widened in surprise. “Dawn?”

“Hey, Giles,” Dawn managed as she struggled to hold back tears. She hadn’t even realized how much she missed him and all of the others until this moment. Giles brought out a wipe and took off his glasses to give them a clean causing her to give a wobbly smile at the familiar action.

“You’ve come back?” he asked uncertainly.

Dawn gave a hesitant nod. “Sort of. I guess I should start at the beginning, huh? I’m sorry for taking off on you guys, but I couldn’t handle it. Even Faith was just another reminder that Buffy was gone.” Both Faith and Giles gave reluctant nods in understanding. “So, I ditched the plane to Cleveland and boarded one to Vegas instead. Once there, I contacted Spike. I gave him the news and he helped me figure out what to do next.”

“Spike!” Giles said in annoyance, a hint of Ripper underneath. “I knew he was hiding something.”

The willowy brunette gave a laugh. “Yeah, he knew that I needed to get away and that I also needed help so he gave me Connor’s name and sent me on my way.”

“Connor?” Giles asked in confusion before looking more closely at the screen and recognizing the boy sitting next to Dawn. “Ah, Angel’s son. Yes, continue.”

Dawn shrugged. “He trained me. I got an apartment in Palo Alto and eventually started Stanford. Connor’s my best friend.” Both Giles and Faith’s eyes softened at her words. They were glad that she hadn’t been on her own all this time. “I ran into a Slayer last Halloween. Her name was Jessica Moore. She was untrained and didn’t have a clue what she was. I gave her the story and sent her on her way to the IWC, but she was murdered before she could make contact,” Dawn stated seriously, trying her hardest not to look in Sam’s direction as she told her story.

“Murdered?” Faith asked in surprise. “What could take down a Slayer?”

“That’s what we wanted to know,” Connor finally spoke. “Sam was Jessica’s boyfriend. He grew up hunting but gave it up to go to school. His mom was murdered when he was a kid the same way Jessica was, so we know there’s something after him and whatever it is, it’s powerful.”

“I’ve exhausted my resources,” Dawn admitted, getting to the crux of things. “I’d like access to the Watcher Diaries and the Hall of Prophecy to see if I can’t find something. A bad guy this powerful has to be mentioned somewhere.”

Giles nodded with a hum even as a crease appeared above his brow. He too was worried about something this powerful roaming around. “The diaries are there in Cleveland, but as I’m sure you remember, the prophecies are stored here in London.”

“I can try the diaries first and then fly out-”

The Brit interrupted Dawn. “Nonsense. I’ll check the prophecies, you just comb through the Cleveland books.”

Dawn looked up at Giles gratefully. “Thank you.” Giles gave a fond smile in return before clicking off in order to begin his own research. Dawn turned to look at Faith. “So, the library…?”  
~~~  
“If I never see another book again in my life, it’ll be too soon.” Connor frowned as he slammed the book in front of him shut and reached to grab another one. “I’d forgotten how research intensive this can be.” When they’d first reached the library, Dawn had immediately set out and returned with stacks and stacks of books for them to start on. She then split them into two piles. Sam and Dean got English and Latin books while she and Connor split the books in demon languages between them. Dawn also got the books in whatever random language she was capable of understanding such as Ancient Sumerian.

“You didn’t mind books at Stanford,” Dawn said absentmindedly.

“That was different. I only ever read the bare minimum to write my paper and skimmed the rest. I can’t skim this stuff. For one, most of it needs translation. For another, if I skim and miss something important, lives are at stake,” Connor explained even as he prodded Dean to move so that he could reach across the older man to snag a donut. “I did miss this part, though. Snacks weren’t allowed in the library,” he spoke around a mouthful of food.

“Ditto.” Dean grinned as he reached out for what was probably his millionth donut. “And seriously, I get what you were saying about these diaries being written by whiny twelve years olds,” he said to Dawn. “These have got to be the most boring books I’ve ever read and I’ve read Sammy’s diary.”

“Dude, it was a journal,” Sam scowled automatically. “And I was ten. Let it go.”

Dean smirked before standing up and stretching. “I’m gonna grab something to drink. Anyone want?” he asked the table.

“Coffee, please,” Dawn replied with the other three nodding in agreement.

Dean left the library in search of the kitchens they had raided earlier. Unfortunately, there were so many hallways and floors that he got turned around. Looking around in confusion, he tried to find something familiar when he heard the ring of the elevator. Sprinting to the sound, he grinned widely as he found it, barely making it inside before it closed.

“You okay?” Faith asked in amusement, startling the man.

“Oh, sorry.” He grinned at her charmingly. “Got a bit turned around. I think I know where I’m going now that I’ve found the elevator though.”

“Do you want a quick tour through?” Faith offered. “In case you need to find something else later.”

A sly grin made its way across Dean’s lips as he agreed. Spending time with a smoking hot Slayer like Faith was no skin off his back. As he trailed her through the building, his eyes stayed mostly glued to her ass, but he did make note of the important areas she showed him.

“And this is our training area,” Faith said as they got off the elevator at the top floor. She showed him into a large room that looked like a gym. Half of it was shining hardwood with various exercise machines and other workout instruments while the other half was covered in mats. There were a couple of girls sparring on the mats in the corner, a couple playing basketball on the far end and one was using the gymnastics equipment. Dean let out a low whistle at the sheer amount of things inside the large space.

Faith led him through an adjourning door to a large white room filled with cabinets and dressers, all filled with weapons. Every kind of weapon imaginable was there, with the most obvious exception of guns. Dean was admiring a katana hanging on the wall when he heard the telltale click of a door closing. Turning, he raised an eyebrow as he saw Faith standing in front of the door. An interested smirk made its way across his face as he thought about where this was leading.

Sensing his thoughts, Faith merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “This is the weapons room,” she stated obviously. “As in the visual representation of what can and will happen to you should you break D’s heart.”

The grin fell off of Dean’s face as he shifted uncomfortably, eyeing the weapons with hesitance. “What?”

“I’m not an idiot,” Faith spoke as she moved to the side to gently run her hands over the Slayer knife collection, keeping her eyes firmly trained on him, smirking when he squirmed at the threat in her actions. “I’ve seen the way you look at her and I’ve seen the way she’s been looking at you. There may not be anything going on right now, but I’m sure there will be soon enough.” Faith stopped in front of the katana Dean had been admiring earlier. He had long since moved away, keeping a weary distance from the Slayer. “Dawn’s been through a lot. Her sister was a legend; someone we all looked up to and loved. Dawn is the only thing left of Buffy and she’s one of us. If you hurt Dawn, you can count on one long-ass line of angry people itching for blood and I can guarantee you that there will be nowhere on this earth – or in any dimension – that you will be able to hide.”

Dean gulped audibly, his hand itching for the gun that he didn’t have. Dawn had convinced them to leave their weapons behind because Slayers didn’t like guns and she had worried that it might anger someone. He wished he could say that in a fight he’d be able to take Faith but having sparred against Dawn plenty of times, he knew that he couldn’t.

Seeing that Dean got her message loud and clear, Faith straightened up from the loose predator stance she had been in previously and put on a friendly grin. “Now then, I believe you were looking for the kitchen?” she asked as she opened the doors widely and exited the room.  
~~~  
“You know, when I first walked in here, I was excited,” Sam said as he leaned back in his chair. He reached an arm up to pinch at his nose, clearly indicating a headache. “I mean all of these books? It’s amazing. I thought for sure, with all of these sources, that we’d find something by now.”

“Yep,” Dawn nodded absentmindedly as she continued searching through her book. “Those Watchers; they sure love to read.”

Sam took another look around. The library was a huge room at least two, maybe three stories tall. But instead of having rows and rows of books, they were lined along the walls against a path. It was as though someone cut a circular hole in the second and third floors so anyone on the third floor could look down and see the people sitting in the first floor.

Of course they weren’t actually on the first floor. They were on the sixth. So the library really took up the left side of the sixth, seventh and eighth floor of the building.

“And ninth,” Dawn replied. Sam blinked in surprise. He hadn’t even realized he had been thinking out loud. “The ninth floor is magic-locked so that no one unauthorized can go in. It’s where we keep all of the dangerous books.” She cocked her head to the side in thoughtfulness. “Maybe I should go check on that,” she muttered to herself before standing up and making her way to the elevator that catered to the library only.

A short ride later and she stepped off into a dark room. She flicked on the lights and looked around. Unlike the other floors of the library, this one was rather normal. There was no hole in the center that you could see down into. The books were still against the wall, however, and in the center there was a table with several pieces of parchment on it, clearly in the midst of being studied. “Must be Wes’,” Dawn murmured as she bypassed the magic section and went straight for the bad guys. She picked out several promising books and returned to the elevator, but as she passed the magic section once more, she paused in thought. Backtracking, she went to the bookcase on rituals. “It’s unlikely, but…” Dawn reached out and grabbed several books on dark ritual magic. It was possible that Jessica’s death had been a sacrifice.

Dawn then made her way back downstairs to find that Dean had finally returned, but had apparently not brought back any coffee. She frowned at him oddly, but Dean just shrugged while studiously avoiding her gaze. She cocked an eyebrow clearly sensing something amiss, but ignored it in favor of continuing their research.

The four settled back into the flow of reading. Both Sam and Dean raised eyebrows at the dark magic described in the books they were reading. They clearly understood now why these were under lock and key. It took several hours on top of the day they’d already spent researching before Connor sat up suddenly, drawing all eyes to him.

His eyes reread the page he was on more carefully than they had the first time before he silently handed the book over to Dawn. She set the book in front of her and Sam immediately got up to read over her shoulder. Dawn was a faster reader and so when she got to the correct passage, she murmured the line out loud. “The demon with the yellow eyes. His favored, the demon Azazel.”


	6. Chapter 6

“His favored?” Dean asked in confusion. “Whose favored?”

Dawn shook her head. “Doesn’t say.”

Sam took the book from the girl and read through the page once more. “That’s it? That’s all it says? There’s got to be more,” he said desperately.

“Azazel; the scapegoat,” Connor read aloud causing the other three to turn to him. He had dug out his laptop from his bag and had Google searched the name. “One of the first demons Lucifer created after his Fall from heaven and also one of the strongest.” There was a hesitant exchange of glances from all around the table. Okay, clearly this wasn’t a run of the mill demon. He was probably incorporeal, meaning he was the kind of demon that possessed people. But there was a line between demon and Lucifer. Believing in Satan… well that brought up all sorts of uncomfortable question regarding religion, hell, heaven and God. “Then again, I got this off the internet,” Connor said, slamming his computer shut.

“Right.” Dean pounced on the opportunity. “I mean, anything could be on the internet. I could be Elvis for all anyone would know.”

“Well you do frequently use musicians as your fake name,” Dawn joked lightly but the tone fell flat as they all continued to think on what they had found. If this was true and the thing that killed Jess and the Winchesters’ mother was Azazel… then what was a powerful demon like him doing stalking Sam Winchester? What did he want? “I’d better phone Giles and tell him what we found. Maybe help him narrow the search,” Dawn said getting up.

“I’ll do a search on the name in the IWC database,” Connor offered. “See if we don’t have more information on him.”

Sam nodded but didn’t say another word, his gaze still blank as he looked down at his own hands. Sam just couldn’t stop thinking about it. His thoughts whirled. Azazel. Azazel. The scapegoat. A demon. Azazel. What did he want…

After a few minutes, Dawn returned. Sam vaguely heard her say that Giles was looking into it and that she also called for some food to be delivered. The other three continued to flip through books, but Sam just stared off into space. He had a name now. He was getting closer. He would hunt this son of a bitch down; this Azazel. He would get revenge for Jess.

“Dude, you need to eat,” Dean finally said, unable to continue staring at his baby brother’s brooding face. He sat a slice of pizza on a plate and slid it in front of Sam, but the brunet didn’t appear to be listening. Dean scowled and it looked like he was about to say something – and knowing him, it would be something completely unflattering and most likely insulting – when Dawn laid a soft hand on his arm. She looked up at him with serious dark blue eyes. Dawn’s eyes were normally a laughing bright blue; he had never seen them this dark. They caught him off guard and he closed his mouth as he paid attention to the girl.

“He needs to think,” Dawn said softly, staring deeply into Dean’s green eyes. “Give him time to wrap his head around it. We have a name. We’re finally getting somewhere with this. He needs a second.”

Dean clenched his jaw but nodded. He understood. Really, he did. He just didn’t like it. Bad things happened when Sammy went off into his own world. Things that usually involved Dean needing to drag his baby brother’s ass out of the fire before it got roasted.

Quietly, the four split up. Faith had given them each separate rooms to stay in while they researched. Dean didn’t like that he was separated from his brother when they were in the middle of unknown territory. He liked it even less now that he knew Sam was troubled and brooding.

He grunted a “come in” when he heard a knock on his door. He was splayed out on his bed, a hand over his weary eyes as he tried to rest them. When he didn’t hear anyone saying anything, he opened his eyes to look at who had come in. Dean was surprised to find Dawn leaning against the wall looking at him with a thoughtful frown. “Crap, not you too,” Dean groaned, replacing his hand over his eyes.

“What?” she asked slightly startled.

“Sammy’s already on that brooding crap, I don’t need more of it from you,” Dean gestured at her vaguely with his hand.

A small smile made its way to her face as she sat down beside him on his bed. “Then you might not want to check in on Connor right now,” she joked lightly. “He’s the prince of brood.”

“Prince?” Dean asked in curiosity.

“You’d have to meet his dad,” she waved away. They were silent for a moment as they both thought on the situation. “This is worrying,” she finally said. “Demons I can handle. I’m even good with heaven and hell. But Lucifer?”

“We don’t know anything,” Dean cut in. “All we have is a name and some random computer search. Azazel’s the only thing we know, okay? Lucifer is crap. He doesn’t exist. He’s just a fairytale told to scare people. He is not after my baby brother,” Dean said strongly, his fists clenching in anger.

Dawn looked down at the man sympathetically before slowly reaching out to cover his fist with her hand. He looked at her in slight surprise but she studiously avoided meeting his gaze. Slowly his hand unclenched as the anger drained out of him. They sat there in quiet solitude for several more minutes before a knock echoed through the room. The door opened and Connor poked his head in. “Giles called back. He found something.”  
~~~  
Once more, the four hunters found themselves in the IWC conference room looking at a large screen where Giles was being projected via webcam. “Giles,” Dawn smiled in genuine happiness. It had only been a day since she’d last seen him but she was still excited having spent so long without his guiding presence.

Giles, unfortunately, could only give a tumultuous smile back, causing Dawn to frown and sit down in worry. Connor too recognized the look from his own father’s face. “Oh, no,” he muttered causing both Winchesters to stare in alarm. “What did you find out?”

“I found a prophecy,” the Brit started.

“That can’t end well,” Connor muttered bitterly.

“Yes, quite,” Giles removed his glasses to give them a quick clean. “In summation, it describes a demon, Azazel, and his rather insidious plot. It describes ‘special children’; that is children whom Azazel gave his blood to when they were babies. This blood gave them demonic strength with none of the weaknesses that normally come with demons.”

“What?” Sam asked sickly.

“There’s no way my brother was fed demon blood!” Dean roared knocking his chair over in anger.

“Samuel,” Giles addressed, “have you had any… symptoms lately?” he asked for lack of a better term.

“I said-!” Dean growled only to be cut off by Sam’s low voice.

“I’ve been having visions,” he admitted.

All three heads turned to face the brunet. “Visions?” Connor asked, uncomfortably reminded of Cordelia, another seer he knew.

“I knew Jess was going to die before it happened and that was just something I saw in my dreams. Lately, they’ve been coming while I’m awake too,” Sam spoke softly, staring at his hands firmly.

“So, it’s true,” Giles said with a sigh. “You are one of Azazel’s special children.”

Dean swallowed thickly, unable to comprehend what was being said. “Is this… is this why our mother died?” he asked weakly. Sam’s head shot up to look at Giles in askance as well.

“I believe so,” Giles nodded. “It is my understanding that Azazel punishes those mothers who interrupt him. He has a particular proclivity for…”

“Gutting them and lighting them on fire,” Dean said with disgust.

“Quite,” Giles murmured as he looked at the two boys in regret.

Sam looked up with determination. “Is there more? To the prophecy.”

“Hmm? Ah, yes.” Giles shuffled through his notes as he quickly skimmed through them. “Well, it gets a bit vague, but from what I can tell, Azazel plans on using these children to… raise up Lucifer and bring about the next Great War.”

There was silence on both ends as they tried to cope with what they were hearing. “Holy shit,” Dean muttered, essentially summing up the thoughts of all five individuals.

“Giles, thank you for the info,” Dawn said as she stood up and made her way to the computer.

“Of course,” Giles said looking at the girl fondly. “Do keep me updated,” he asked as he shut off his computer ending the connection.

“I’m evil,” Sam murmured in shock.

Dean whirled around to look at him. “No you aren’t.”

Sam looked at his brother incredulously. “You heard what Mr. Giles said. I have demon blood running through my veins. I’m supposed to help Lucifer. I mean I don’t think I can get more evil.”

“Just because it’s prophesized doesn’t make it so,” Connor added in. “Prophecies don’t give the whole picture.”

“It’s true,” Dawn nodded encouragingly. “There was a prophecy that said my sister would be killed by the Master and while she did die for a minute, she was resuscitated using CPR.”

“There’s no room for interpretation about me having demon blood,” Sam stated seriously. “Mom died because of it. Because of me.”

“Mom died trying to stop that son of a bitch from touching you,” Dean argued as he stood up angrily.

“And Lucifer? How are you going to explain that one away, huh Dean?” Sam stood up to face his brother as well. There was a silence as Dean struggled to come up with something to say. “I’m going to help raise Lucifer. I’m evil.”

“Sam.” Connor stepped into their conversation. “I know what it’s like to have a prophecy hanging over you. To believe that you’re something evil. But you can’t let others dictate who you are. I’m the son of two vampires and not just any vampires but some of the most cruel and bloodthirsty vampires to roam the world. I’m not human. They called me the Destroyer. I understand.” At some point during his speech, Sam looked up at him and Connor could tell from his eyes that he was really hearing Connor. “But I know that I’m not a bad person. Do you think I’m evil?”

“No.” Sam shook his head. They’d all grown close and Sam knew what kind of person Connor was. He’d seen Connor take down creatures twice his size to protect innocent people.

“And we know that you aren’t evil either,” Connor replied. “You can’t let these things get to you. Know what you want to be. If you want to help people then you will. If you want to be evil, then you will. It’s your decision, no one else’s.”

Sam looked at him in complete shock. For one, that was very probably the most serious, profound thing Connor had ever said and Connor wasn’t really a profound kind of guy. But for another, his words really hit home with Sam.

Sam turned to look at Dawn’s face and was relieved to see her smiling and nodding at him encouragingly. “We’ll help you, Sam. We’re with you on this. A hundred percent.” Sam gave a shaky breath and nodded gratefully before turning to the one person who meant the most to him.

Dean gave a small grin. “You’re my baby brother. Where the hell else do you think I’d be?” Dean said with a smirk, clapping a hand down on Sam’s shoulder. “We’ll get this son of a bitch,” he vowed, “and then you won’t have to worry anymore.”

The End


End file.
